At the BlizzCon fansite panel, it was stated that no Patch 5.5 was planned, so if you don't love PvP, you could be in for a long stretch of no new content in Mists of Pandaria. This is a striking change from the very fast patches at the start of MoP and more in line with the long pre-expansion wait during Dragon Soul.

However, Blizzard could have some surprises in store like a mini-raid like Ruby Sanctum or quality-of-life patch like Patch 5.4.2 with cross-realm mail and Flex raids.

Right now, we're several months into Season 14 and past PvP seasons have all been over 20 weeks long. Assuming Season 14 and Season 15 are on the short side, which is very optimistic, that

In addition to launching Hearthhead yesterday, there were hotfixes and tweaks as usual. Vanity collectors will be happy to know that Moonfang should now always drop something when defeated. There were also some PvP topics addressed by Lore, such as the controversial The Crowd Chose You!!! buff and RBG rating loopholes.

Patch 5.4 goes live on September 10th and we've got you covered so you can kill Garrosh in the Siege of Orgrimmar and get some epics in style! The Alliance and Horde have had enough of Garrosh's poor leadership and are storming the gates of Orgrimmar.

Besides a new 14-boss raid with a new mode of difficulty, Flex Mode, players can explore the Timeless Isle for vanity items and BoA epics. Plus, there's a new PvP season and players can finally finish their legendary questline to get a powerful cape!

We've got summaries of all the new content below, as well as links to blue posts and Wowhead's comprehensive PTR coverage.

Patch Notes and Overview

Players can finally kill Garrosh in the new raid, Siege of Orgrimmar. There are 14 bosses and LFR loot is ilvl 528, Flex 540, Normal 553, and Heroic 566.Flex mode is a new raid type, in which players form a raid with 10-25 players and the bosses' health and damage will scale up or down. The difficulty is easier than Normal, but as it's intended to reward players for social interactions ins

Tier 16 Weapons

In addition to new armor styles coming in Patch 5.4 with the Siege of Orgrimmar, the upcoming raid is filled with new weapon models referencing Garrosh's Horde, the Sha, and the Klaxxi. There's even a sweet weapon, Seismic Bore, that boosts mining!

We've organized the weapons by type and difficulty below--LFR, Normal/Flex, and Heroic weapons have unique colors. Be sure to click on the weapons to view them in our 3D Modelviewer!

We've got another episode of Talk Azeroth with Olivia up, as well as some recent hotfixes for the holiday weekend!

This week on Talk Azeroth Episode Five, Olivia gives everyone a lesson in what she calls the After Eight challenge, before firing up the show. If you think you can do it faster, prove it!

Moving into the show, Olivia starts off by picking up your viewer questions from previous episodes. If you have a viewer question, you can now email them over to Olivia direct on Olivia@zam.com, or tweet her at @oliviadgrace. The questions this week touch on Virtual Realms, as well as a couple of thoughts on the Arena Tie-Break System.

This weeks' show deals with some huge PvP news, the introduction of cross-realm arenas and the removal of teams. Olivia explains the existing system, as well as the changes, before thinking through the pros and cons of the new system, including flexibility, rating, rankings, MMR and potential exploits, as well as the camaraderie of teams and whether it's really important.

As revealed at the Fansite Dev Roundtable on Friday, some big changes are coming to arenas in 5.4. The team requirement is lifted, and you can compete with cross-realm friends!

<div class="detail"><p>Big changes are coming to World of Warcraft’s Arenas that will make participating more convenient and competitive than ever before, and some of those changes may begin appearing on the PTR very soon.</p></br>

<p>Today, competition is limited to the realms within your Battlegroup, and your ability to participate in the Arena system requires having a static team with friends on the same realm. In the upcoming Patch 5.4, we’re building on technological improvements we’ve made over time (such as region-wide matchmaking) to expand the pool of competitors and improve the Arena experience for all World of Warcraft players.</p></br>

<p>One of the first things you’ll notice in Patch 5.4 is that you’ll no longer need to join or create an Arena team to compete. Instead, queuing will work much as it does for Rated Battl

This week Olivia takes a look at the proposed changes to the arena tie-break system. She starts off with a look at where we're at right now, explaining the current system, before running viewers through the new tie-break system, and then dives head-first into the potential issues with the systems old and new, while also examining why Blizzard decided to shift away from the old system in the first place.

The new system, she asserts, provides a fairer look at arena matches, likening them to boxing. The pugilistic metaphor continues as Olivia discusses how the current system is much like demanding a TKO to win any boxing match, while technical victories are completely absent.

However there is a downside, as Olivia explores, with the way the system changes the psychology of the arena, as players might look to play the system rather than play the game.

One huge change we noticed when logging on the PTR was that Vale of Eternal Blossoms is radically different. It's been infested by the Sha, with most of the zone drastically changed. The capital cities are still functional, but the Golden Lotus hubs appear to be phased out. All of the water is drained and in its place are sha-touched wildlife (that award Golden Lotus rep when killed) and corpses of Golden Lotus NPCs. In addition, there is a new raid portal at the bottom of a lake, with a summoning stone nearby for "Vale Raid."

Since the time of this post, we've updated our Golden Lotus Reputation Guide which documents all of the changes happening in 5.4 and how to get Exalted quickly before the patch!

5.3 Flavor NPCs

Patch 5.2 introduced some quirky world details like a Fire Kitty disguise and Mistborn tribute, and it looks like Patch 5.3 is continuing this trend with some interesting additions. This weekend, users found several interesting NPCs added in Patch 5.3 in obscure locations!

Next to her are clickable pots of Assassin's Grade Blinding Powder and Assassin's Grade Flash Powder that gives your character a brown crafting animation. They're references to the removed Rogue reagent Blinding Powder, originally needed for Blind, and Flash Powder, originally needed for Vanish. Using these pots resets cooldowns on those two abilities if they've been used recently.

There's also a new world event, Battlefield Barrens, in which you assist Vol'jin with the Darkspear Rebellion and collect some unique vanity items along the way. Don't delay though--this world event is only around for a limited time!

We've got summaries of all the new content below, as well as links to blue posts and Wowhead's comprehensive PTR coverage.

Patch Notes and Overview

Experience needed to increase from 85-90 has been reduced by 33%.Players get more control over loot rewards with a "Loot Specialization" menu option for bonus rolls, quests, Raid Finder, and Heroic Scenario loot. Read more here.Battlefield Barrens is a new world event in which Alliance and Horde players unite to undermine Garrosh and kill his Kor'kron guards for u